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Emma couldn’t believe her ears. The bitch at the podium in the conference hall had stolen her thunder thoroughly enough to take Emma’s breath along with it.

Emma had been taking notes, but found herself digging her pen so hard into her steno pad, the paper ripped.

The stuffed-shirt academic sitting next to her shifted away and raised his eyebrows at her.

“That fucking bitch ,” she whispered.

Erika Rosencrans ended her talk and opened the floor for questions. The audience buzzed with uncertain interest until one brave soul raised a hand.

“So, let me get this straight: you believe at the end of this expedition, you will have proved—” The man trailed off, seemingly attempting to suppress a laugh, judging from the look of utter disbelief on his face. “—That dragons exist? Isn’t that a little far-fetched, even for you, Ms. Rosencrans?”

Ouch. That had to sting a little for the gorgeous, dual-doctorate holder standing on stage. Their male peers could be such jerks, but from the bite in the man’s tone, Emma couldn’t help but wonder if Erika had snubbed him in a particularly personal way at some point.

Emma knew Erika’s premise wasn’t far-fetched at all, but there was no way in hell she’d ever expose herself to such close scrutiny of her peers.

Erika was probably the cockiest, most fearless woman on the planet.

Scientists were an odd enough bunch to start with, but God forbid you should ever even come close to suggesting that myths and magic were real.

Emma frequently considered that she may have gone into the wrong field herself, but after the discoveries she’d made over the last few years, she knew anthropology was exactly where she belonged, even if her area of expertise had nothing to do with human development.

Erika stared the man down. “That’s precisely what my team and I intend to prove, Dr. Jenkins.”

Her “team,” at the moment, consisted of the handful of shell-shocked graduate students seated behind her.

They seemed to have trouble absorbing how utterly nuts the audience considered their leader.

They’d drunk the Kool-Aid, no doubt. But Emma wasn’t surprised.

Erika Rosencrans was a force to be reckoned with.

And if anyone could pull off an expedition of the magnitude she’d just proposed, it was her.

Emma wished she had her own entourage of acolytes. The Adonis twins who followed Erika weren’t even the least of it.

All Emma had were her cousins—twins, as well—the only family she had left after the disappearance of her dad and uncle a month and a half earlier on a hunting trip the pair had taken together.

Their loss had thrown Emma off her research and she’d had to scramble to get prepared for this conference.

She still wasn’t quite back on her game.

How the hell was she supposed to present her own research on the tail of such an outrageous revelation as Erika’s?

Her presentation was far too similar, yet her proposal too tame by comparison.

Erika had braved that final step that Emma was simply too big a pussy to take—to suggest that the mystical creatures of interest weren’t simply constructs of ancient civilizations, but that they were actually real and living in the modern world, along with all their considerable magic.

And probably the reason Dad and Uncle Ted disappeared to begin with.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Emma said, staring blindly down at her notes.

Her own research was more detailed and far-reaching than Erika’s, and every bit her own legacy—at least, part of it was.

She was presenting her theories on the significance of not one magical race, but four, linked together by the elements.

Like Erika, her own family’s history was tied to one of the races, which was what had prompted her to pursue this particular field of study.

How could she get up and make virtually the same assertions about mystical, magical creatures as Erika just had, without having the balls to share her belief that they were real?

She wished she had her laptop so she could at least edit the presentation to remove the section covering her own dragon research.

Research that pretty much meshed perfectly with everything Erika had just said.

Maybe she should just stick to the part about the ursa and leave out the turul and nymphs.

The ursa were closer to her heart, at least, so she could present about them with the most passion, just as Erika had done with the dragons.

Emma tried to allow herself to feel a little bit smug that her research had filled in the blanks in Erika’s, but before she could psych herself up, the question session ended and the announcer was at the podium reading Emma’s modest introduction.

“Here goes nothing,” she muttered, gathering her notes and clutching her thumb drive in one clammy hand. Here goes my career, straight down the toilet, and on my birthday, no less.

Three shots of whiskey in and Emma was just barely feeling numb enough to stop obsessing over how thoroughly she’d choked.

The hotel bar buzzed around her, but she did her best to ignore her colleagues.

She pretended they were strangers, that she was someone else entirely.

Someone who didn’t give a shit what everyone thought.

Someone more like Erika. Not only was the woman fearless, she was gorgeous and athletic.

She commanded respect even in the midst of being ogled by half the room.

She’d probably never had a clumsy moment in her life.

God, if only Emma hadn’t fucking tripped on her way up the steps onto the stage.

She’d gone sprawling and had to be helped up by the announcer, who wasn’t exactly a robust man and seemed to strain a little when Emma used his hand to leverage herself back to her feet.

Her ass had probably given the guy a hernia.

“I’d like a plate of nachos,” she said to the bartender when he came back around with the bottle and poured her a fresh shot.

The diet could wait until she made it back to Black Mountain.

She’d work out her anguish on the mountain trails behind the house she shared with her cousins.

Maybe she’d finally succeed in dropping the last twenty pounds if she did enough winter hikes.

“That was quite a presentation,” a friendly female voice said from the barstool next to hers. “A girl after my own heart.”

Emma turned her head and blinked at the beautiful, mahogany-haired woman who’d sat down beside her. Her stomach lurched, making her wish like hell that her food order would hurry up.

“Erika ... uh ... hi. You ... you stayed?”

“I hadn’t intended to, at first, but got caught up after the first couple slides. That’s quite a theory. Blows mine out of the water, frankly. I’m impressed.”

Emma let out a snort and waved her hand. “At least you have the balls to go after the truth. It’s more than just a theory, and you know it.”

She couldn’t believe she was being so bold with her own ideas.

She’d never told anyone but her cousins about the direction of her research, and even then she’d only used abstract terms. She’d always kept the truth of the matter a secret, meticulously omitting any suggestion that she believed in the mystical.

The paper she had just presented kept all her ideas firmly in the theoretical realm, even occasionally poking fun at the idea that it could ever be real.

Emma hated those bits, because with each passing day, she grew increasingly certain it was all true.

“Why don’t you?” Erika asked. “Your research is solid, and even more complete than mine. An expedition to Africa should be on your agenda. Or Eastern Europe. Then wrap it up closer to home. You’re originally from the Southeast, aren’t you?

North Carolina, if I’m not mistaken? The ursa sound amazing.

So attuned to the Earth. The only thing missing from your presentation were the dragons. ”

Emma covered her face with her hands. “Fuck, I should’ve left them in.

I always second-guess myself.” She sighed and shook her head.

“You were wrong, you know,” she said, then instantly cursed at herself.

But how many opportunities would she have to be on a level playing field with Erika Rosencrans?

“Oh?” Erika raised a perfect eyebrow, her mouth quirking up at one corner. “Wrong about what, exactly?”

“They’re not hiding. They hibernate to preserve their energy and protect their young.

The primary motivator for all the races is reproduction and protecting their offspring.

The dragons took a page from the bears, but took it to the extreme—too far, if you ask me—which makes me wonder exactly what they’re protecting their kids from. ”

“Hibernation?” Erika asked, her eyes widening. “Wow, I never considered that.” She tapped the dewy surface of her glass, thoughtful. “Ah ... would you mind sharing your research with me? I’d be happy to trade.”

Emma gaped, oblivious to the aromatic platter of nachos the bartender placed at her elbow. A research trade? Holy shit! She pursed her lips. There had to be a catch.

“Just the dragon research ... ” Emma said.

Erika nodded. “That’s all I care about right now. You’ve got your work cut out for you with the rest, but if you ever need help, I can hook you up.”

Emma’s heart pounded. She didn’t care about the dragons, but there were so many hints of overlapping origins in Erika’s presentation. The four higher races no doubt shared power and history in some fashion. Whatever Erika had learned would fill in so many little gaps.

She watched, dazed as Erika snatched a cheese-laden chip and popped it into her mouth, then shoved a hand into her pocket and produced a tiny thumb drive.

“This is everything,” she said.

“You keep it in your pocket ?” Emma asked.

Erika chuckled. “I like to have it close. It feels like a part of me.” Her eyes twinkled. “So ... trade?”